Sponsor Packet(2)

8/14/2019 Sponsor Packet(2)

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Dead Art Form Theater, Inc.A California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation


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The Situation

Los Angeles is a community that boasts more theaters,

theater companies, and professional actors, writers, and

directors than any other city in the country, including New

York. But, LA Theater has a pretty bad reputation, and,

unfortunately, that reputation is well deserved.

Why?

A Lack of Innovation

LA is the center of the film and television

industries, and theater has suffered as a result. Most

plays in this sphere are simply exercises for screenwriters

and screen actors to showcase their talents for film and TV

professionals in the hopes of securing representation or

real jobs in movies or TV series. Therefore, most

theatrical productions attempt to imitate the constantly

rehashed formulas that are still the basis of the vast

majority of film and TV projects. This climate of

conventionality results in creative stagnation and makes

for uninteresting, redundant theatrical productions.

Even when an innovative new work is composed, the

chances of that play ever reaching an audience with its

intended vision intact are slim to none. Every major

theater has an in-residence Dramaturge (AKA: Literary

Manager) whose job it is to help the play by reshaping

its structure, plot, and/or intent so that it might appeal

to the largest number of audience members on that theaters

subscriber list. Playwrights are often coerced into making

these changes with a simple sentence: Do it or we cancel.


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This endemic reverence of conformity is not surprising

given the realities of the current marketplace for

established entertainment entities. The goal of these

organizations is simple: Make money. How do they make

money? By increasing sales. How do they increase sales? By

focusing on projects that appeal to the lowest common

denominator.

Hence, Spiderman: The Musical.

Dead Art Form Theater (DAFT), Inc. is a reaction tothe pervasive fear of risk that impedes theatrical

innovation. It is a corporation whose agenda is to

resurrect a dying art form; to search for truth in

storytelling; to present a challenging, innovative paradigm

that entertains and warrants debate; to engage in a mutual

conversation between audience and artist about truth and

perception, reality and faith, and what makes us human; to

share its rich experience with students from underserved

communities; to nurture the next generation of theater

artists; and to take these productions around the world.


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The Mission

To resurrect a dying art form by producing important

works with a special emphasis on staging quality

productions of insightful, provocative world-premiere

plays that maintain the original intentions of the

author; and to foster and mentor new talent in

underserved communities.


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The Company

The Background

In August of 2008, Dead Art Form Theater (DAFT), Inc.

was incorporated as a California Nonprofit Public Benefit

Corporation by theater professionals in an attempt to

combat the dearth of innovation in LAs languishing theater

scene. Composed of four MFA graduates of UCLAs prestigious

School of Theater, Film and Television, DAFT, Inc. has

already begun development on several new works, begun

production on their first world-premiere play (Money Shot

opens October 3rd, 2008), and fostered a close relationship

with the faculty and students of East Los Angeles College

(ELAC) by presenting a series of readings of important new

works there.

The Future

Starting in October of 2008, DAFT, Inc. plans to

extend its role in fostering young talent in underserved

communities by increasing the frequency of the play

readings, increasing the size of the student audiences, and

implementing a number of mentoring programs at ELAC, all

free-of-charge.

DAFT, Inc. also plans to complete an entire rehearsal

process of an important new work with an unprecedented

Open Door policy in an on-campus rehearsal space, which

will give ELAC students unique, free access to the

professional rehearsal/new play development process.


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Commencing on or around January 1st, 2009, DAFT, Inc.

is planning on securing a permanent space by either

purchasing or leasing a local theater so that it may extend

its season to include four-to-six productions of important

new works per year, with at least two of those productions

working the pioneering Open Door policy, and with the

express intention of taking these productions on tours

around the world.

The Sources of Financial Support

Initially, a reasonable admission fee to attend

performances (around $15.00 USD) will be charged so that

our productions remain accessible to the largest possible

number of community members with substantial discounts for

students and senior citizens.

Given the prohibitive cost of attendance to the

majority of theatrical productions ($25.00 - $95.00 USD),

DAFT, Inc.s eventual goal is to bring the price of

admission down even further, so that all members of any

community may attend.

Given the nature of its endeavor, DAFT, Inc. fully

expects the majority of its funding to come from personal

contributions.

This is not to say the corporation intends to fail

commercially. Quite the contrary. As DAFT, Inc. continues

to mount superior productions of new, landmark works,

recognition of its fearless pursuit of ground-breaking

expression will certainly grow. It is because DAFT, Inc.

intends to charge audience members as little as possible to


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attend its performances, and to keep its services in

underserved communities free-of-charge that it will not be

able to function without significant private financial

support.


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The People

Officers

Mr. Daniel Keleher, MFA, [email protected]

Mr. Gregory Myhre, MFA, Vice President

[email protected]

Mr. James Jordan, MFA, Treasurer

Mr. Shawn Colten, MFA, Secretary

Board Members

Mrs. Rebecca Davis, MFA

Mr. Kyle Lawson

Miss Sherrie Lofton

Mr. Chad Myhre, CFA


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The Officers

Daniel Keleher, MFA, President

Daniel is a professional playwright, copywriter, and

college-level theater educator in East Los Angeles.

His theater career began in northern Michigan as a

full-scholarship student under the tutelage of Dr. Rick

Plummer at West Shore College. While there, he focused on

Performance Technique and acted leading roles in a dozen

plays. He was also involved behind the scenes as a set

builder, light runner, and stage manager and served as the

schools Student Technical Director for three semesters.

Additionally, he appeared in a traveling acting troupe that

toured area high schools in underserved communities to

present plays which addressed socially relevant issues

faced by at-risk teens, and was an acting and writing

instructor for children of all ages at West Shore Theater

Summer Camps.

Daniel continued studying performance technique on a

full-scholarship to Northern Arizona University with Dr.

Robert Yowell, Dr. Mac Groves, and Joseph Turner-Cantu.

While attending NAU, he appeared in leading roles in more

than fifteen plays, and won numerous acting awards. While

competing in two American College Theater Festivals (ACTF),

he won two Irene Ryan Acting Award nominations, competed in

the Irene Ryan regional semi-finals, and won the Best

Actor, Arizona Award. Two of his early plays, Mastiphicus

Meglodon and Some Other Metal than Earth were staged at

ACTF to critical and audience acclaim. He graduated with a

BS in Theater Performance.


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During the summers in Arizona, Daniel worked with the

Equal Opportunity Housing Coalition where he taught at-risk

teens basic carpentry skills, then supervised them on

beautification projects throughout the impoverished and

underrepresented Sunnyside neighborhood in Flagstaff. The

project was a huge success, and was reported in newspapers

throughout Arizona, resulting in two of the teens receiving

early scholarships to universities.

Daniel then attended UCLAs prestigious School of

Theater, Film and Television on full scholarship and

obtained an MFA under Edit Villareal, Hanay Geigomah, andGary Gardner. While there, he won the Skirball/Kennis

Playwrights Award, The George Burns and Gracie Allen

Fellowship for Outstanding Comedy Writing, and became the

first UCLA TFT graduate playwriting student to act in a

mainstage production.

His original play Kindred, currently optioned by

Senovva Entertainment, has received critical and audience

acclaim up and down the West Coast with five productions in

Los Angeles, alone. His collaboration with Tony Award-

winning writer/director Mel Shapiro on a musical

interpretation of Homers Odysseywas successfully staged

last spring, and the two plan to collaborate again this

year on Daniels new original play Hot. His original plays

Robosaurus and Mastiphicus Meglodon premiered at the

NativeAliens Theater Collective in Manhattan this year, and

Robosaurus has won numerous 10 minute play competitions on

the East Coast, since.


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Daniel is currently teaching Theater courses at East

Los Angeles College, and writing and developing original

plays while maintaining a successful movie-trailer

copywriting business.

Keleher writes with a startling unique voice. His dialogue explodes likefirecrackers onto the stage and the pyrotechnics dont stop

-Metro LA

energy, smarts and a surprising tenderness both rough andsupple.

-LA Weekly


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Gregory Myhre, MFA, Vice President

Greg is a professional actor/writer living and working

in the Los Angeles area.

He began performing forensics in high school where he

was awarded multiple state championships for each year he

competed.

He then accepted a scholarship to The University of

Mary in Bismarck, ND, where he met a mentor in Dr. Nita

Ritzke. Under her direction, Greg acted in numerous leading

roles and was voted Best Male Actor every year for the four

years he attended the school. The one year the school

entered the national ACTF competition Greg was invited to

compete in the Irene Ryan competition and bring a one man

show to be showcased in competition against a handful of

other full-length plays. His one man show won Best Play and

crowd favorite that year.

The following summer, he toured a children's show to

grade schools on impoverished Native American reservations

and performed for the students, some of whom had never

before seen live theater. He counts this experience among

the most treasured moments of his life.

After graduation, Greg auditioned for the national

University/Resident Theater Association (URTA) in a search

for a graduate school specializing in acting performance.

To his delight, he was accepted to every school for which

he auditioned, including CalArts, NYU, Harvard, and UCLA.


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Each of these programs is highly competitive, and accepts

between five and fifteen actors per year.

Before leaving his home state of North Dakota, Greg

formed Average Joe's Independent Theater Company, a non-

profit organization dedicated to staging live theater for

people in small-town North Dakota, many of whom had never

been exposed to it. The troupe sold out three touring

productions before Greg left for California. He counts it

one of the biggest successes of his life.

A second was earning an MFA from UCLA's School ofTheater, Film and Television where he was the only North

Dakotan to ever attend. He was also the only actor to play

the leading role in a mainstage production all three years

of the program, and to head the cast of the class film. He

was awarded the Jack Nicholson Award for Acting and the

George Burns and Gracia Allen Award for Comedy. During his

time at UCLA, Greg taught acting to undergraduate theater

majors as well as summer acting classes to non-theater

majors. He also made several trips back to his alma mater,

The University of Mary, to perform workshops and

participate in talk-backs with theater majors.

Greg currently performs on television, in film,

theater, and in voice-over, and motion capture for video

games. He has appeared on such shows as Days of Our Lives

for which he was nominated for a Best Guest Star Daytime

Emmy Award, the short-livedseries Drive, Serenity,

Smallville, and acted in numerous independent films, one of

which won a film festival judged by Spike Lee.


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However, performing theater, the only personal story-

telling medium left, in front of those who have not been

exposed to it is still his most cherished occupation.


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James Jordan, MFA, Treasurer

James is a professional actor of screen and stage,

holds an MFA from the UCLA, and is a frequent contributor

to local educators on the topics of aesthetics and theory.

His training began as a student at Webb City High

School in the quant, quiet hamlet of Webb City Missouri. It

was there that he collaborated with educators to

reestablish a theater program for the community. A slew of

successfully welcomed productions, resulted in approval by

the school board to construct a 2.5 million dollar

performing arts center. The Webb City High School Drama

Department is now a thriving center for the performing arts

in Southwest Missouri. Graduates regularly attend the most

prestigious theater training programs, or work in

professional houses around the country in a multitude of

capacities. This accomplishment garnered James a theater

scholarship to Missouri Southern University under the

guidance of Dr. Jay Fields.

James delved into the intense training, and soon found

himself a designated "Repertory Player" for the

University's theater season. James performed in nearly 40

mainstage productions at Southern, sometimes performing

twice a day in rep. James' intensive training as an actor

also required his complete focus on theory and

aestheticism, as pertaining to the performing arts. It was

in this line of study that he challenged the conventional

wisdom pertaining to semiotics, the language of symbols.

James presented a 15 minute play "acted" entirely by

lights; applied the Aristotlean tragedy of Hamlet to the


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American Civil War; designed the medieval play Everymanas a metaphor for the death penalty; directed a 70-

paged analysis he wrote; wrote a ten-minute play called The

Yes Yes Boat; and presented a paper to the faculty on the

nature of "Theatricality."

Beyond academics, James became a company member of The

Show-Me Celebration Theater Company, a Missouri-based

children's theater company that annually records attendance

of 40,000-50,000 patrons. James also founded The SPEAKLOUD

Theater Labratory, a workshop for artists of other

disciplines to explore their works in the medium ofTheater. James wrote and staged his original one-acts; The

Eyeball Call and Movement. James was a contributor to the

BACKSTAGE CLUB, a University Think Tank that challenged

conventional theories and practices of Theater. It was

during this time that James became a member of Alpha Psi

Omega Theater Fraternity, Vice-President of the Young

Democrats, member of the National Organization of Women,

and worked for Vice President Al Gore as a Field

Representative during his bid for the presidency in 2000.

James left Southern as Distinguished Arts Graduate of 2002.

After being welcomed by graduate acting programs

across the county, James accepted a position as a candidate

for the Master of Fine Arts in Acting at UCLA. He began

the innovative, poetic study of Acting under the tutelage

of Tony-Award winner Mel Shaprio.

In his second year of study, James was awarded the Sir

Ian McKellen Award in Acting. He performed in the West

Coast premieres of several shows at UCLA, and continues to


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collaborate with Brian Kite, an award-winning director.

James also taught acting for non-majors, and was awarded a

scholarship to perform original short comedic sketches for

terminally ill children at UCLA's Medical Center. James

wrote, produced, directed, and acted in Buzz or The

Wounded, a ten-minute play that tells the story of author,

activist, and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic whose story was

brought to the screen in Oliver Stone's biopic Born on the

Fourth of July. James worked closely with Mr. Kovic, and

the play was the closing show in a run of originally

conceived pieces about political activism in America.

As graduation approached, James starred in the world

premiere of Daniel Keleher's inaugural LA play; Kindred,

and helped found the now-thriving Los Angeles Theater

Ensemble with Kindredas its flagship production.

James made his debut in the world of television by Co-

starring in an episode of Steven Bochco's short-lived Iraq

drama for the FX network, Overthere. James has also guest-

starred on CSI, CSI Miami, Cold Case, Close to Home,

Without a Trace, and Just Legal, and played two different

recurring characters for CW Network's critically acclaimed

teen noir drama Veronica Mars. On the big screen, he played

a pivotal role in the western period thriller Seraphim

Falls starring Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, and Angelica

Huston, and in the award-winning short film Dust by Adam

Cozad. Most recently, James has collaborated with the

likes of Rob Thomas, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch, and Adam Scott

on an original television comedy entitled Party Down.


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Shawn Colten, MFA, Secretary

Shawn is an accomplished college-level athlete,

acrobat, gymnast, skateboarder, an MFA graduate in Acting

from UCLAs School of Theater, Film, and Television, and a

professional actor living in Los Angeles.

A prelude to his pursuit of acting, Shawns extremely

physical background started at a very early age with a love

of skateboarding. While living on the island of Okinawa,

Japan (his father was a Major in the Marine Corps and was

stationed there for three years), Shawn, a military brat of

just thirteen years of age, was involved with the planning

and building of four skate parks, one on each of the four

major military bases on the island.

Upon his return to southern California, he continued

skateboarding while learning to juggle and ride unicycles.

At the age of eighteen, he started training as a gymnast.

Before long, he was coaching gymnastics at three differentgyms and four different elementary schools while continuing

his own training in the evenings.

Shawn decided to attend college at the ripe old age of

twenty-two, and since he had been homeschooled up to this

point, college was his first classroom experience. While

taking a class in springboard diving, he realized he would

make a better diver than a gymnast, and so began training

in earnest.

In his first year of competing for MESA Community

College, in San Diego, California, he went undefeated in

the season and was named an All-American Diver by the NCAA.


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Shawn was awarded Most Valuable Player four times in his

two years at MESA.

Finishing his two year degree, Shawn moved to Houston,

Texas, in order to perform in a water-stunt show at Six

Flags, AstroWorld. Some of the stunts involved high diving

from 80 feet into a pool that was only 8 feet deep, and

doing a synchronized bungee cord routine with a trapeze

swing. After two years in Houston, he moved to Clarion,

Pennsylvania, in order to finish his undergraduate degree

at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

At Clarion, Shawn studied theater with Rob Bullington

while training on the diving team with his coach Dave

Hrovat. His day started with 5:30am practices, then classes

at 9:00am, and practice again at 2:00pm. Then Shawn would

begin his job working as a bartender from 6:00pm until

1:00am, then up again at 5:30am for practice the next day.

However, this superhuman effort paid off in great

dividends: Shawn was a four-time NCAA National Champion;two-time Clarion University Athlete of the Year; two-time

Clarion University Scholar Athlete of the Year; Disneys

Wide World of Sports Regional Scholar Athlete of the Year;

and was honored by the Senate of Pennsylvania and senator

Mary Jo White for his outstanding achievements. Along with

these accomplishments, Shawn still somehow managed to win

his schools 2002 Breakthrough Award for Acting, Best

Comedic Performance Award, and the Best Actor in a Play

Award, and compete in the Semi-Finals of the Irene Ryan

Acting Competition at the American College Theater Festival.

Finished with his undergraduate degree, Shawn was

accepted into the MFA program for acting at UCLA where he


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studied under Mel Shapiro and Gil Cates. The intense

program gave him the chance to perform in nine mainstage

plays while taking countless classes, teaching

undergraduate acting, and having the chance to work with

Tim Robbins, Annette Benning, Frances Ford Coppola, and

Larry Moss.

Since completing his masters at UCLA, Shawn has

appeared in over 20 television shows including

Californication, CSI New York, Close To Home, Scrubs,

Crossing Jordan, Jericho, and many others.


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The Projects

Kindred

Kindredis a play of extraordinary sensitivity.

Written with compassion and insight, it tracks, in real-

time, the emotions of two prison inmates, one of whom is

scheduled for execution the following morning. In the

course of their ninety minute colloquy, both undergo

significant reversals of outlook and understanding, and

both find deep reconciliation with their fates and their

lives. Kindredis a play of beautiful recognitions.

vibrant script erupts with lyrical poetic imagery. In

less than a heartbeat, his writing swerves from being

easily pithy to dynamically explosive.

-Backstage West

real talent a fresh voice and wicked smart dialogue.

-LA City Beat

Those fortunate enough to see it here may be able to tell

their grandchildren someday that they saw this play before

anyone else ever heard of it or its author.

-The Davis Enterprise

This production should not be overlooked! Highly

recommended.

-Accessibly Live Off-Line

spellbinding and surprisingly funny distinctly

American

-The Los Angeles Times


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Money Shot

In the San Fernando Valley, a group of twentysomething

Internet entrepreneurs play video games while waiting for

their hero- a well established adult film director- to show

up for the biggest video shoot of their lives. By the time

the shoot is done, it's progressed from sexual display to

carnality of the utmost extreme.

The play confronts one of the deadliest conditions of

human sensibility, i.e. its casual accommodation to the

absolute of inhumanity. It is written in a language that is

complex, visionary, and surreal, and with both its language

and its action, it exploits the terror and the poetry and

the banality of this casual accommodation. Developed with

Tony Award-winning writer/director Mel Shapiro, the play,

step by step, with the force and the logic of set rituals

reaches, at its conclusion, an explosive impact.

The raunchiest, most brilliant, most beautiful American

play in many years. A major work.

-Dr. Leon Katz, Emeritus Professor,

Yale School of Drama; Roger Fry

Distinguished Professor of Dramatic

Arts


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Hot

A riotous story of love, sacrifice, and slavery, Hot

is a romantic farce set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

With ninety-five percent of the earths population either

dead or in deep comas, one man tries to find love among the

wreckage. Confronting deep themes of lust, civil

responsibility, and morality, Hot provides a unique,

hilarious perspective on loss, loneliness, and what it

means to be human.

Hot is slated for production in 2009, with Tony Award-

winning director Mel Shapiro taking the helm.

Hot is one of those plays that seems to have a destiny all

its own it sets a new, joyfully politically incorrect bar

for which other dark comedies should strive

-Sid Higgins, Artistic Director,

The National Youth Theater of

Britain


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The Renaissance

As its name implies, Dead Art Form Theater, Inc. is

about resurrection, and believes some of the old models for

developing successful art deserve attention.

It is widely known that generous patronage kicked off

the Renaissance, and the family name Medici will forever be

chronicled alongside such illustrious names as Leonardo da

Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose

works continue to enthrall millions of people around the

world.

The patronage model continued to flourish throughout

the Renaissance, and generated some of the greatest

theatrical works by luminaries like Moliere, William

Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson.

DAFT, Inc. hopes to renew this legacy by operating

from a budget that consists primarily of generous personal

donations, corporate sponsorships, and partnerships on

productions, promotional materials, tours, and student

workshops. This structure will allow the organization

unprecedented freedom of expression so that it may continue

to cultivate new voices, present important, innovative

works to the largest number of community members at the

lowest possible price, and continue its free-of-charge

workshops and play readings in underserved communities.


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The Benefits

Along with credit in most promotional materials for

the organization and its productions, as well as

recognition on tasteful displays upon the purchase of a

permanent home by the corporation, the contributors,

patrons, and partners of DAFT, Inc. will be rewarded with

the knowledge that their generous contributions are:

Allowing important, innovative works to be seen by the

largest possible audience.

Encouraging public discourse.

Restoring vivacity to our decaying theatrical heritage.

Directly impacting the lives of young people in

underserved communities.

Touching the lives of audiences around the world.

Having a real, measurable effect on the corporation,

the community, and art in general.

Beyond recognition in promotional materials and

permanent displays, DAFT, Inc. will also work closely with

contributors, patrons, and partners to make sure that

contributions of a certain level are acknowledged in a

manner which pleases them; up to and including the naming

of DAFT, Inc.s future permanent home. Some examples

include:

The naming of seats in the permanent future home of

DAFT, Inc. after the patron

Credit as Producer or Producing Partner on

promotional materials for sponsored productions


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Credit as a Promotion Partner on promotional

materials for sponsored promotions of productions

Any other way, within reason, in which the patron,

contributor, or partner wishes his/her name to be

acknowledged

-or-

Of course, if the patron wishes to remain anonymous,

his/her wishes shall be granted.

For more information, or to make a contribution,

please contact: [email protected].

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